The "Queen" cookery books: Vegetables

and cook them till tender and very lightly coloured, shaking them all the time they are cooking ; now lift the basket out of the fat, and put them aside for a minute in a warm place, return the frying kettle to the fire, heat the fat very quickly, and return the potatoes to themashed, stirring them very gently for a minute or two in it, when they should be puffed up and swollen ; tlien drain them well, and serve very quickly on a hot dish, dusted with salt. The great secret in cooking these lies in the first frying ; they should he cooked first till on lifting one and biting it, it bites quite short and soft, and is only very faintly coloured on the outside. Be very careful only to put a few at a time into the pan the second time, because if they knock together in the frying they will harden and not puff out properly. They are well worth the little trouble they entail. It is manifestly impossible in a book of this size to give even a tithe of the almost innumerable methods of cooking potatoes, but the above may serve to help an intelligent cook in the production of variety. Pumpkin (Potiron). — Seldom seen in this country save as soup, hut abroad, in the United States especially, it is a great favourite, especially as “ pie ” ; hut its normal condition is m, ashed, for which vou take a good slice from a large pumpkin, remove the outside peel, and the seeds with the pulpy tissue adhering to them, and cut the flesh into inch cubes ; cook these in boiling salted water for twenty minutes or so, till tender, then drain well, press out every drop of liquid, and heat the pulp up lightly with a little butter, pepper, salt, and a little cream if handy. Another (French) method is, after preparing the pumpkin as before, to dry the cubes in a clean cloth, dust them with tine dry flour, and place a layer of these cubes in a fireproof dish brushed over with oil, dusting this layer well with black pepper, minced parsley, chives (or shallot), and good salad oil, repeating these two layers till the dish is full ; bake till tender, when you pour off any superfluous oil, and serve. Some cooks add grated Parmesan cheese to the seasoning. Pumpkin pie. — Prepare the pumpkin as before, and cook it in a small quantity of water till quite tender, then sieve it. To each teacupful of this puree allow one well-beaten whole egg, a teacupful of milk, and caster sugar to taste. Season this with some ground ginger and nutmeg, beat it all well together, and pour a breakfastcupful of this into an ordinary dinner (or, if preferred, soup) plate, previously lined with puff pastry, and bake. Eat cold. Purslane {Pourpier). — This was formerly much valued as a garden herb, but nowadays it is seldom seen, though some old-fashioned cooks still use the young shoots in salad, and the older ones as potherbs. Abroad it is still in request, for salads especially, but even for “ fines herbes ” the French cook considers purslane, or pourpier as she calls it, indispensable. Radish (Radis). — These in this country are seldom if ever seen otherwise than raw, yet formerly here, and still on the Continent, they may be met with cooked, and very good they are. Well washed and trimmed, radishes, the round ones especially, form a favourite hors d’oeuvre.